Summer is around the corner and there is no better time to prepare for the “Summer Slowdown” than now. Unless you have a summer seasonal business, it is very common for businesses to see a shift in sales, revenue, traffic, client meetings etc. The summer months offer challenges and unique opportunities that all businesses need to prepare for.
“Summer Slowdown” usually refers to the months where there are fewer “gift-giving” holidays, more vacations are being taken and people switch to more down-time with kids being out of school. This means more time is spent with family or on vacations so the overall disposable income is going towards those activities. Many businesses (unless it’s a seasonal one) will feel the shift in overall revenue.
1. Plan for the holidays
Although the summer holidays have less gift giving you can still optimize your business during Memorial Day, Fourth of July and Labor Day which tend to be very popular sales-holidays already. This is a great time to pull in additional sales and attract new customers with a discount or deal. Get ahead of the game and create all of your digital and physical marketing - plan out posts, email blasts etc. to ensure success during these holidays.
2. Engage with your audience with different Marketing tactics
Summer is a great time to test out marketing techniques. Since the summer season is slow, you need to ensure you are keeping customers engaged more than ever. It is a great time to build visibility and awareness. Marketing tactics that work well to keep people engaged and gain new eyes are giveaways and contests. Everyone loves a giveaway. They are a great way to get people excited and interact with you on social media. This is an optimal time to encourage others to “tag” friends and share which in return builds awareness.
3. Host or sponsor a local community event
We’ve talked about eventing before and we can’t rave about it enough. If you are a small business, the summer is the perfect season to get out into the community and partner to build relationships. Summer is when people make time for things like events and fun things to do to get out. If you are able to, host an event to gather local business and create buzz. If you are unable to host an entire event, sponsoring a local event is another great opportunity! Sponsoring an event will give you the ability to highlight your local involvement and boost customer awareness by being featured with several other businesses. Not only is this excellent PR, but it also makes your customers feel good that they are supporting a business that in turn supports the community.
4. Collect feedback and build your database
Talk to your audience. This may seem simple but engaging with customers and creating an open space for feedback and ideas is a great tip during the summer slowdown. You can execute this via email, phone, social media etc. Collecting insights during the summer can really give you ideas for the fall and winter and set you up for success. Doing this will fuel your growth into the busy holiday season. You can ask for feedback on the company, what new products or services they would like to see from you, improvements etc.
5. Double down on social media
If you are a small business, you may find yourself falling off of your social media consistency. Summer is a great time to amp things up. While taking advantage of the “summer time” themed posts, you can also batch content and plan and schedule ahead for the busy shopping season.
By learning how to prepare for the slow season and using your time well, you can make the most of your summer — and be ready for your business to take off when things get back to normal.